Kazakhstan: Wave of Emigration to Russia Shows No Sign of Abating

The outflow of technically qualified and educated people from Kazakhstan has been growing steadily over the past four years. Most are heading to Russia.

As economy think tank Finprom.kz noted in a November 14 article analyzing freshly released official statistical data, the bulk of those leaving Kazakhstan are technical specialists, economists and teachers.

Over the first nine months of 2017, around 12,000 people secured residence in Kazakhstan for work or study. More than twice that amount, some 28,000 people, left for the same reasons. The divide between arrivals and departures is the greatest the country has seen in the past decade.